February 25, 2015

What do dreams mean? Do any of you know? In my experience, the quality and quantity of my dreams really run the gambit. Sometimes they’re a total blur, other times they’re vivid. Sometimes I get distinct messages and sometimes they make no sense at all. I do have reoccurring dreams. Occasionally I have reoccurring dreams that take place in specific houses and then actually see those houses in real life (in places I’ve never been before). No, really. And I’ve been flying in dreams for as long as I can remember. In fact, being able to fly in my dreams feels so very real to me that I’m actually surprised that I can’t manage to get lift off in my waking life. So I think there something more to our dream states than most people are willing to see.

Throughout my coaching training and spiritual studies, I’ve heard it said that dreams are actually our lives happening in parallel dimensions or that we work on emotional pieces of our current lives that we aren’t capable of reaching when we’re conscious. Both of those explanations make sense to me and then again, dreams might just be our subconscious running on autopilot. And that makes sense to me too. I suspect it’s a combination of all that with a few dashes of magic thrown in just for interest.

This is Amy and she’s a painter and she’s the one who started this whole topic. Her paintings are bright and vivid and have a very dream like quality to them. I’m telling you this because this Scarab Amulet began as a literal dream. My client Amy contacted me after having a dream about an Amethyst Scarab pendant. There’s beautiful symbolism linked to the Scarab; they’re regarded as sacred in ancient Egypt and actually considered a symbol of infinite life. The Scarab is also associated with sacred knowledge and astral travel. Typically a Scarab is a beetle carved out of stone but in this case, I happened to have this amazing 14 carat faceted Amethyst already. As soon as we began to discuss the idea of her pendant, this beautiful juicy stone popped into my head. This Amethyst is seriously as big as a halved grape and it is every bit as luscious.

Amethyst is the stone from her dream and it’s also Amy’s birthstone (it’s the stone for February). Amethyst has some very distinct healing properties. It is said that wearing an Amethyst can heighten your intuition and bring you a sense of inner peace and it’s also good to wear when you’re wanting to change old habits and patterns. You’ll notice that there is also a tiny little blue sapphire set in the third eye position of the piece. Sapphire is said to bring good fortune, heavenly insight and awareness.

In researching for this project, I got really excited because the symbolism of the Scarab itself (sacred knowledge, infinite life), the Amethyst stone (heightening of intuition), the blue sapphire (insight and awareness) and the inscription she chose (Infinite Love) all fit with each other so seamlessly. She even thought up the idea in a dream (astral travel)! We didn’t choose them to fit like that- they just did. She came to me with her dream and ideas and I transformed them into a pendant and it was all totally synchronistic. I chose the blue sapphire based on the color and she chose the inscription because of some work she’s been doing. Never once did we get together and start looking for stones, ideas and words that fit a common theme. This happens with myself and my clients all the time. It’s as if the Universe has a certain idea or prompt if you will and the two of us work together to manifest it.

If you want to work on creating a custom power Amulet for yourself, please send me a message at natha (at) lusciousmetals.com . I have a really fun process that I use with my clients when we’re creating to help you get clear on what you want. Know too that these pieces will hold the energy of your intentions so they are really quite powerful in helping you to create what you want (and what the Universe wants for you!)

Blue Topaz can assist in opening up ones throat chakra, which in turn heightens the ability to communicate. This makes it a very powerful stone to use when you wish to express yourself in a meaningful way, both when speaking and writing. This is also a brilliant stone to use in guiding one to think more freely and easily.

So the word FREEDOM as it turns out, is such a fitting word to inscribe on this custom ring. It really is a stone that represents the beautiful and liberating freedom of the voice and the mind. In my coaching practice, I’ve noticed that more women than ever are exercising their voices, speaking about their experiences and asking for what they want and this relates very fluidly to the idea of freedom and “coming out of the closet” with who we really are. As a designer, I have found that the majority of the orders I work on these days are custom amulets, so this ring is of course completely in alignment with what I see happening on a large scale.

I loved creating this ring for Beth. She came to my studio and actually chose the stone and the word long before we researched the symbolism, so learning about the healing properties of the stone really makes this ring even more powerful. This stone is a rose cut London Blue Topaz, set in 18k gold bezel on reticulated silver. There are 3 10k gold bolts and the band is set with 6 tiny 2mm stones in Emerald, Blue Topaz, Blue Sapphire, Zircon and Aquamarine.

Beth came to me wanting to design a ring to celebrate her life as it looks these days. Beth Walker is a well known makeup artist in the Denver area and quite often has photographs taken of her hands as she applies makeup to models. Her rings get seen, if you know what I mean! Because she’s a visual artist she expressed to me that it was very important to her that the things she wears are aesthetically beautiful and also that they make her feel good. In designing this ring, she not only got to choose the colors, stones and metals that she was in love with, she also got to infuse the piece with the energy of the word FREEDOM. Makes me want to take a deep breath and relax into that! To see more of her work, go here.

Designing power pieces for clients is something I feel very passionate about and I’m always delighted when I get to work on a new piece that I know is going to be very special and meaningful for that person. If you have custom inquiries, please send me a message and I can answer any questions you may have. Customer service (at) luscious metals.com

Does anyone else out there have an interesting relationship with decisions?

I mentioned a few months ago that I was in a place of transition with my life and was going to shut the doors on Luscious Metals and moving into coaching full time. And that seemed like the logical thing to do a few months ago when I wrote that post. In fact, I spent the better part of the fall and holiday season, preparing for and talking about doing just that. I was ready to close the business and start coaching and teaching classes full time. Done deal.

A little disclaimer– I make slow decisions. It’s not because I’m waiting for something better to come along, or that I put my head in the sand and avoid. It’s more like… I can’t decide because I just don’t know. I have to weigh the options and wait for the answers to appear and sometimes it takes a really long time. I thought the answer had appeared (although on deeper inspection of that statement, no I didn’t. I forced an answer because I thought it was the thing to do). “Make a decision and stick with it!” (Who did I learn that from?) Fast forward into February and that super concrete, absolute, precarious decision has changed a bit. The truth is, so did the information I was using to make the decision in the first place. Am I making sense here? Welcome to my world. I always used to think I was a flake but it turns out, I’m just fluid.

So here we are, a whole month into this brand new year and I’ve been fluidly coaching classes AND running Luscious Metals and it’s actually working out nicely. I’ve had a slew of the most amazing custom orders come across my bench and I’ve been loving creating again (as opposed to just doing production on existing designs.)

I’m launching another series of The Secret to Achieving Your Goals class. This 12 week course is so phenomenal by the way- I am so honored to be teaching this class. I’m watching women grow by leaps and bounds as they learn about themselves right before my very eyes, and that is exactly why I’m coaching.

So life is good and while there are still some major changes that will be happening, they are a few months off. In the meantime, I feel like the chaos of last year has settled down and I’m settling into this dream life I’ve been working on creating. Changes will come and decisions will be made and instead of rushing the process of any of it, I’m letting things unfold organically. The most beautiful part of the rose isn’t necessarily the full bloom, every stage is amazing in its own right. From seed to sprout, vine to bud to blossom… I’m enjoying it all.

I began Metalsmithing for the purpose of fulfilling my own need for jewelry. Having spent countless hours dreaming about specific pieces of jewelry that I wished I had but could never find in stores, I decided to try my hand at metal. I fell in love. I have studied many kinds of art and my favorite is the art of adornment. I enjoy creating jewelry that is functional, sculptural and beautiful. My aesthetic favors balance over symmetry, odd numbers over evens and colors over neutrals. Most all of the metal work in my jewelry is hand fabricated, which means it starts out as metal sheets and wires. I pound, pierce, fire, emboss and more to make every piece amazing and unique.